The 1st Man: Mr Dubois

The young serpent watched the arctic tundra from a higher view in the guild hall, a small smile crept onto her as she continued in her trance at the wayward weather. It had now been more than a few days since her introduction into Basilisk Fang yet some of the smaller things which she had assumed she would get used to still intrigued her. From the intense cold environment outside to the lurking members within almost always concealing themselves albeit apart from a few of the "Up There" wizards and witches. Arty used the phrase Up There to describe those she deemed either normal or powerful and funnily enough only four had made that cut. After a few minutes passed she slowly snapped out of her trance and shut the wooden planks along the window stopping the cold breeze from slapping her face, the girl turned her back around and hopped off of the large stone windowsill and walked down into the main area in which almost all of the guild's members resided. The clip clop of her heeled boots became an alarm for those below the steps alerting them of her arrival, some of the mages had even got to calling her "The heeled one". At her current height on the staircase she could make out the large group of fellow serpents who were all scattered across various spaces in the enormous space below, she hurried down the steps and was greeted by a slender female who wore cat-like mask. "Hello, I'm Ariana but most call me Blitz. It's a pleasure to meet the infamous heeled one" She said this sentence with such a monotonous tone Artemis wanted to pummel her through the flooring. "Blitz you say? Why's that? I don't think I've seen you before but no the pleasure is all mine" Arty cocked her head to the side noticing that a few seats at the bar was free and inside she'd been dying for something to drink, all that cold air had made the girl parched. The girl went to take a step in the direction of the now emptied bar but was stopped short by Blitz. As much as she loved her guild and all of those in it there had come times when her niceness was taken advantage of and people began to annoy her in hopes of seeing the other side of Artemis. "What is it you think you are doing?" Artemis glared at the girl with those menacing icy eyes of hers and spotted the small flicker of fright as she had tried to stare back "Uh...I wanted to battle you" She said sheepishly now moving away from her false monotone way of speaking and regressed her body into herself as she was now visibly scared of the Aurora girl. "..."Artemis simply returned her statement with her continued cold glare and brushed past her heading for the bar. In the background she had heard a few comments like "Cold one isn't she" or "I knew she'd do that" The old girl was beginning to make a name for herself in the guild and she was proud of that, tapping on the bar to get the barkeep's attention she ordered a mixed cocktail and leaned on the counter her eyes now darting across the room until they spotted the glorious job board.

Sip after sip her upon using her enhanced vision she viewed a few jobs all of which didn't catch her interest so she sighed returning to the confounds of her cocktail. Behind her the group which held the woman known as Blitz still conversed over the fact that Artemis had completely ignored her, unbeknownst to Arty this girl would play a dire role in her life and upcoming journey. Returning her gaze to the murky bar her eyes met those of the barkeep and a small smile lit up on his face, he reached below the counter and moved a few bottles around as he searched for something. The noise of cluttering glasses and boxes being shuffled about made the girl a little irritated so she began to tap her fingers on the counter in a basic rhythm, with her pinky finger starting and ending with her index finger. After a few moments of frantic searching the barkeep returned back upright with a sheet of dirtied paper with a large amount of words scrawled all across it. The piece of paper read out: "Phantom Thieves Competition - Act One" The girl scanned these words and a look of curiosity flushed over her face. Act one. This had to have meant that there was more of these missions from the same person right? And the rewards had to get better no? Many questions flooded the young serpent's mind before she continued reading. "Three men in Crocus have come into wealth... We want you to tackle Mr. Dubois, a wealthy man who makes a fortune on the mental welfare, and or inadequacies of his patients... Or maybe not. Actually not, he takes a meager amount of money from his patients, and we want one thing in particular. His Gold plated fountain pen. Kill him to get it, and you'll be rewarded. Mr. Dubois has taken precautions, however. He has hired Footpads, ex-bandits, and mercenaries. Get past those, and kill him."

The contents of her newfound assignment was in fact incredibly juicy, all she had to do was acquire a gold plated pen from the man known as Mr Dubois. As well as face a few mercenaries and bandits Dubois hired for protection, but there would be no way she couldn't defeat such basic foes. Something told her she would enjoy this mission even though the simple scale was so below her, again her eyes rolled over the words yet again and a feeling the basilisk queen had never felt before or so long as she could remember radiated off of her. Was it anger? No, it would make no sense. Avarice? Of course not. Bloodlust?...But why? What could she be lusting about it for, the feeling slowly subsided as her vision dimmed a little before she regained her natural sight. She shook her head in order to awaken herself out of her terrifying trance, tracing her fingers along the sentences now to keep her focus on the page. The girl's would've lit up if not for the headache now making it's way into her front of her brain, the reward was pretty handsome and useful. Two thousand jewel as well as possessing the stolen gold plated pen. Useful. Now looking towards the barkeep he finished wiping the inside of a used glass jug and nodded at Artemis as he proceeded to the back of the bar.

Artemis folded up the rumpled sheet and slipped it into her boot, she swiveled on the stool she sat upon and clicked her knuckles on both hands readying herself for the day ahead. Taking her first steps onto the cold cobbled stone floor of the guild hall she searched for someone to bring along with her for the journey. A few names bounded around her mind: She could give the the young Blitz a chance and bask in the self proclaimed basilisk queen's glory. Or perhaps she could ask one of the members who had been in the league longer than the rest. Sol maybe? It was a thought she held onto before placing her eyes around the room. But then again did she really need someone bothering her on this new mission, she couldn't hack someone not being able to kill or spoil at the sight of blood. Now that...that would be irritating. Most of the fangs were either too scared of Arty to work with her or too fearful and the ones that weren't were all away on their own missions or too lazy to do so. After careful consideration she decided it best to venture to Crocus by herself in order to make sure the job was completed quickly and efficiently, taking one last look at the castle and those in it she gained a scornful look from Blitz as Artemis opened the large doors with a loud creak and exited into the deadly wintry terrain on the outside.

Her feet crunched through the snow as she made her way down the ferocious mountain top, she had her arms in front of her in a high 'x' type formation with some space to allow her to see through. The girl's looser clothing blew in the wind which ate at her skin, Arty decided it best to kick up the pace and did so with a spark in her step. Some footsteps made her legs sink a little into holes as the snow settled finely on the ground covering up most of the hill's dangerous craters and slips. "Do you not feel the cold Artemis? Would you not rather just go back inside, I hate to see you looking in pain" Spoke Angeline in her sweet voice which echoed in Artemis' head, when she was going to reply to her Azreal butted in: "Leave the girl alone, this will no doubt strengthen her. She's no quitter so hurry down this mountain so we can feed our hunger damn it!" He almost ruptured a vessel in the young woman's head. "I'm fine Angel, please don't fret you'll only put me off my descent. And as for you Azreal, hush before I come in there and deal with you" She grumbled upon both of their specific sentences never once letting her emotions rise. From her slow fall she reduced the originally hour long journey into minutes as she used physics in order to get down faster, her chains always seem to come in handy.

The ground below was graced by the presence of her as she came from the sky into a graceful roll, she dusted herself off and looked into the forest trying to notice anything different or to see if she was being followed but quickly dismissed it as she would've already found the person. The blue haired girl walked a few meters before turning into a fast walk, then to a jog and finally a run. She whizzed through the grassy area with many of the plants on the floor wanting to follow her on her journey, Arty at that present moment wasn't the fastest member of Basilisk Fang however her natural speed could argue that case somewhat. Deciding to take a better view of her path Artemis leaped off of the soft flooring and into the high heights of the huge trees dotted around the area, once her foot had landed on the thick oak branch the girl assumed her former speed hopping from branch to branch. As she neared her objective she thought of numerous ways to murder the poor unknowing man, a few ideas plagued her mind for example: using her chains to strangle every last drop of his life essence to watch his eyes bulge out of his head and his skin turn white greedy for oxygen, or maybe she could use her fiery chain to scald the man slowly burn him or maybe even ignite it whilst in his mouth. Now that would be something interesting, she'd never seen that happen to someone before let alone know what it would do to a normal magic-less human. Well then, only time would tell and by the looks of it she was nearing her destination.

The last tree blocked the light from fully entering the forest, with one more powerful jump she exploded from the treetops and was in awe at the glowing city below as she was in the air for no more than four seconds. Wiping the perspiration from her brow Arty was slapped back into reality upon falling with style into the streets below. Moments after he run she was met by a few civilians asking whether she need help and in fact she did, the girl found out a few ways and routes in order to get to Crocus so with some time and jewel she made her way in that direction wanting time to go faster.

It didn't take long for the young serpent and her two otherworldly companions to reach the base of Crocus and it's bustling world. Many of the higher class were known to reside her and meet up with others for business purposes or leisure activities, and it would also be the death place for one Mr Dubois. Now, Arty understood the reasons as to why this man had to be ridden of this universe and that was due to his disgusting path to richness. He used his patients as a way of taking money. Absolutely despicable. The young girl walked farther and farther towards the residence of Mr Dubois and the length was beginning to shorten.